Stories, articles, and resources discussing SMI and the death penalty.

PIERRE, S.D. – The severely mentally ill would not be executed for committing a capital crime in South Dakota if a bill is passed by the state legislature this year and becomes law.

South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is behind the bill. The advocacy group's director, Dennis Davis, says the bill would allow a judge to order life in prison rather than execution if a person convicted of a capital crime has an intellectual disability or is found to be severely mentally ill when the crime occurred.

Ray Tibbetts accepts responsibility for his crimes. He's been a model prisoner for 20 years and has become a passionate Christian. He hopes to be allowed to serve out his life in prison, providing support to fellow prisoners. Ray is scheduled to be executed February 13. We do not need to kill him in order to hold him accountable. Please ask Governor Kasich to commute Ray's sentence.

In July 2015, as a Colorado jury debated the fate of James Holmes, a young man with schizophrenia who killed 13 people in a movie theater, I collected letters of support for his parents. From across the United States, mothers of young adults living with serious mental illness sent me their stories of trying and failing to get treatment for their children.

One mother wrote, “It wasn’t your beautiful son who hurt all those people. It was the untreated brain illness that is so misunderstood. People with schizophrenia are not evil; they are ill.”

Editorial: Another Blow to Death Penalty

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced last week its review of old criminal cases has found as many as 27 death penalty convictions that might have been based on invalid scientific testimony. Read more.

New Execution Date for Rodney Berget

Attorney General Marty Jackley announced the execution of Rodney Berget the week of Jan 12, 2014. Berget plead guilty to the murder of Rodney Johnson, a prison officer, in Sioux Falls. A judge sentenced Berget to death, but the SD Supreme Court overturned the sentence ruling that Circuit Judge Brad Zell improperly considered a statement Berget made to a psychiatrist. Berget then sought a new sentencing hearing in front of a jury. Zell denied that request and resentenced him in May. The exact date of the execution will be determined by the warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary. (Source: Sioux City Journal)

Rodney Berget's Death Sentence Overturned

Jan. 3--The South Dakota Supreme Court has overturned Rodney Berget's death sentence because the judge who sentenced him to die improperly considered a statement made to a psychiatrist. The statement was made during a competency evaluation, and it violated Berget's right to be free from self-incrimination. Berget pled guilty to killing correctional officer Ronald "R.J." Johnson in April of 2011.

Donald Moeller Executed

Oct. 31 -- Donald Moeller was pronounced dead at 10:24 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 30 2012, making him the 18th person executed in South Dakota history, the 3rd since the death penalty was reinstated in South Dakota in 1977, and the second this year, following Eric Robert two weeks ago (see below). Moeller's last words were reportedly, "Hear my fan club?" referring to the echoes of cheers from SD State Penitentiary inmates as he was put to death beginning at 10:00 pm. South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, along with the South Dakota Peace & Justice Center and Pax Christi, held a vigil against capital punishment outside the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, SD, where the execution was carried out. Moeller was sentenced to die for the 1990 rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell.

Pres. Carter Calls for End to Death Penalty

Former President Jimmy Carter recently wrote an op-ed supporting the abolition of the death penalty throughout the United States. Carter cites the fact that only 1% of police chiefs think expanding the death penalty would reduce crime. The former president also claims that North Dakota, which does not have the death penalty, has a lower murder rate than our state of South Dakota. He also presents the fact that most prominent Christian denominations support ending the death penalty.

Gratitude

Gratitude

WELCOME

I am Dennis (Denny) Davis, the director for South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (SDADP), and South Dakotans Opposed to the Death Penalty (SDODP). SDADP is our 501 (c) (3) organization where donations are tax deductible, and SDODP is our lobbying arm where donations are not tax deductible. I want to personally welcome all who visit this website and encourage you to join us in our work to repeal the Death Penalty in South Dakota. I would like at some point to come to all the districts in South Dakota to speak on the death penalty so please let me know if anyone can host such apresentation in the future. The website has easy access to your representatives or senators. Just click on Representatives and enter your information. Then e-mail or write a letter and share your thoughts.

Let us know who you are and we will send you a brochure to join us so we can make South Dakota abetter place to live. The death penalty diminishes us all and we have the means to incarcerate for lifewithout parole at much less cost both to our pocket books and our consciences. We can all make adifference here by choosing life instead of state sponsored death. Thank you for caring and making thechoice for life.

Peace and all good,

Denny

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Death Row

Death Row

Death Row

Executed in South Dakota since 1976:

Elijah Page (executed in 2007, sentenced in 2001)Eric Robert (executed in 2012, sentenced to death in October of 2011)Donald Moeller (executed in 2012, originally convicted and sentenced to death in 1992; South Dakota Supreme Court reversed his conviction in 1996; he was re-tried, re-convicted, and re-sentenced to death in 1997)

On death row in South Dakota:

Charles Rhines (convicted and sentenced in 1992)Briley Piper (sentenced to death in July of 2011)Rodney Berget (sentenced to death in February of 2012)

Others sentenced to death in South Dakota since 1976:

Robert Leroy Anderson (convicted and sentenced to death in 1997; committed suicide in 2003)James McVay pled guilty but mentally ill on 1-31-12The jury verdict of guilty of a Capitol crime was on 4-11-14Sentenced by Judge Lieberman on 5-13-14McVay found dead in his cell from suicide on 9-4-14

McVay was severely mentally ill and receiving meds in the prison. He was put on work release and while out killed a woman.I am telling you this because this year we put forth a Severely Mentally Ill bill in the SD Legislature to exempt SMI's from the death penalty and we failed in committee.